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portant and powerful positions simply because of their race and/or gender.

Many Americans were troubled by the lack of opportunity, and affirmative action was conceived as a way in which past discriminatory practices could quickly be put to rights. Simply waiting for women and racial minorities to rise to the top ranks of society as white men recognized their talents did not seem like a reasonable way to change society. A more proactive strategy seemed necessary, and out of this desire (fueled by the passion of the Civil Rights movement and later by the women's movement) was born affirmative action.

This does not mean that affirmative action was universally supported even in the beginning. There have always been important constitutional questions - along with public controversy - over whether, and to w

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